Killed by careless shipmates
May 14th, 2012 | 7th Fleet Mishaps Navy Times | Posted by Sam Fellman
Our cover story on newsstands this week focuses on the accidental death of Personnel Specialist 1st Class (SW/AW) Regan Young, who was killed Nov. 23, 2011, aboard the amphibious assault ship Essex. That day, Essex was anchored off Bali, Indonesia, and Young had been sitting beneath a NATO Sea Sparrow launcher all the way aft on the ship, using his cellphone to make some calls before the ship weighed anchor. Around the same time, technicians began maintenance on the aft launcher. But they didn’t post the required safety observer, didn’t sound the warning bell and didn’t follow standard start-up procedures, triggering a violent and known launcher error. Here’s an excerpt from our story:
“At the turn of the switch, the launcher’s stow locks disengaged and its servo motors energized. And then, unexpectedly, the massive launcher moved. It spun clockwise nearly a full turn as its cells rose skyward, a dynamic and random motion that can be triggered when the system is improperly initialized.
It struck Young, a 37-year-old father of two who was three weeks from transferring, its lower edge pinning him down as it dragged him across the non-skin deck.
Alarmed to hear the mount spin, the fire controlman rushed topside. He saw Young stagger into the ship, blood running down his face. Young collapsed. At 8:22 a.m., a medical emergency was called away. One of the missile cell covers had shattered and Young’s cell phone, multitool, watch and sunglasses were strewn inside the red painted circle around the launcher, which warned in white block letters: “DANGER AREA.”
Young was pronounced dead at 10:07 a.m. of “severe blunt force trauma to his body” from the launcher’s impact, concluded a subsequent command investigation, which was obtained by Navy Times via Freedom of Information Act request. It found complacency and lax oversight among the factors that led to Young’s death, the fleet’s first maintenance-related death in 1.5 years and a preventable tragedy that has raised renewed questions about whether the Navy is getting safety right.
Indeed, the busted alarm bell — a $1,352.56 part — and the unusual, violent motion of the launcher seemed to be nothing out of the ordinary to the fire controlmen entrusted to safely operate the system.
“Sometimes when you turn on the launcher, it will move on its own, the 28-year-old FC, who had flipped the launcher into remote, told a master-at-arms in a statement signed four minutes after Young was pronounced dead. “This is not something that happens all the time, but there is a danger circle around the launcher for a reason.” He added that he was going to act as the safety observer after he had powered up the launcher.
The final report, which provided the timeline of events that led up to the tragedy, made clear that Essex’s maintenance problems went all the way to the top.“
For the rest of the story, pick up Navy Times at a newsstand this week or click here to subscribe.
Saving lives this summer
May 20th, 2011 | Liberty Marine Corps Mishaps Naval Safety Center Navy Personnel Safety | Posted by Bill McMichael
Announcements of annual safety campaigns may for many go in one ear and out the other, but the Naval Safety Center’s summer campaign, which officially begins Memorial Day weekend, is an opportunity for Navy leaders to hit the deckplates and hammer home the message that it’s possible to have fun without taking life-threatening risks. Last summer was the Navy’s safest on record. Still, 14 sailors and 14 Marines lost their lives in motor vehicle and recreational mishaps. That was a big improvement over the five-year average of 44 total off-duty deaths each summer. But still …
Leaders can find all sorts of useful materials with which to reinforce the message here.
“Live to play, play to live.” Here’s to a safe summer!
Seven in Seven
May 21st, 2010 | Aviation Carriers Coast Guard Congress Foreign navies Maritime operations Mishaps Naval Academy Navy Personnel Ships Sports Submarines The Pacific Washington | Posted by Lance Bacon
Sailors aboard the carrier Ronald Reagan conduct a test of the aqueous film forming foam firefighting system during a planned incremental availability maintenance period. Ronald Reagan is completing its first underway period since October 2009. (Photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Alexander Tidd)
It’s been another busy week for the Navy. Here are seven stories in seven minutes from the past seven days that are worthy of notice:
1. Defense Bill passes HASC. This bill has tons of important stuff – far too much to put in this blog. You can check Monday’s edition of Navy Times for the complete scoop. But among the highlights is this news that lawmakers bucked the Pentagon’s 1.4 percent pay raise request, and looks to instead give service members a 1.9 percent boost.
In addition, the bill aligns the 30-year shipbuilding plan with the QDR, which bodes well for the 313-ship Navy. Rep. Gene Taylor, D-Miss., and the Seapower committee he chairs, put the following in the bill:
Darwin Awards, here we come!
December 31st, 2009 | Mishaps | Posted by Lance Bacon
While perusing the Safety Center’s Website, I stumbled upon AlSafe message 077/09. It’s called a “summary of mishaps,” but reads like the nomination entries for the Darwin Award finalists. The collection of a “year of knuckleheadedness and numbskullosity” is further proof that we have plenty of youth – what we need to find is the Fountain of Smart.
Kudos to the Safety Center staff, which has provided these examples of lessons learned in 2009:
- I will not find a stray snake, carry it home as a pet, and then try to play with it.
- I will not remove a .45 caliber pistol from my glove compartment and try to make sure it isn’t loaded while i’m driving to a pistol range.
- I will not try to unclog a deck drain by drilling a hole in a damage control plug and jamming it into the end of the hose on an expired carbon-dioxide fire extinguisher.
- I will not try to hang a picture beside a window in my office by teetering on a stool beside a large window.
- I will not playfully try to take away a Gerber from a Marine who is fooling around with it.
- I will not jog over to the gym at 0130 when there is a concrete barricade in my path that I didn’t know was there and couldn’t see.
- I will not play water polo with a 10-pound medicine ball.
- I will not use a rolling chair as a ladder and then try to jump even higher to reach something.
- I will not pretend to push someone off a balcony, especially if they grab me while falling off.
- I will not reward myself for serving as a designated driver by having a few drinks while waiting to actually do the driving.
- I will not lob a coconut at someone giving a briefing while I’m in the audience. I may want to, but I promise to fight the urge.
Indeed, words to live by.
Recognition for a Navy disaster
December 29th, 2009 | Historical Mishaps Morale ordnance Shore duty | Posted by Phil Ewing
The 1944 explosion at Port Chicago, Calif., destroyed two cargo ships and much of the surrounding port and naval base // NavHistHerCom
From our colleagues up in The Show comes an interesting story about a piece of naval history finally recognized: This fall, the Port Chicago Naval Magazine National Memorial became a full-fledged member of the National Park System, meaning park rangers, more funding, and the whole treatment for the site of the Navy’s worst home-front disaster.
Port Chicago, Calif., was the site of a naval depot in World War II, where, because of the military’s segregationist policies, many of the cargo handlers and workers were black, supervised by white officers. On July 17, 1944, the port, two cargo ships, and much of the town were devastated by a massive explosion — felt as far away as Nevada — when something touched off the ordnance. Three hundred twenty people were killed, most of them black sailors, and when black survivors were ordered to start work again loading more ships, they refused, saying it was too unsafe. The incident showed the U.S. the ugliness of segregation in the military, which ended, by order of President Truman, in 1948.
This account of the disaster is pretty comprehensive, as is this Web site dedicated specifically to the victims and survivors. Be advised, though: If you’re on the West Coast and you’d like to see the site, you need to make an appointment.
MCPOCG sends safety message
December 23rd, 2009 | Blogs Coast Guard Mishaps | Posted by Susan Schept
A 33-foot patrol boat similar to the one involved in a fatal accident over the weekend.//Photo by PA3 Henry G. Dunphy/Coast Guard
The Coast Guard is having a difficult December with two boating accidents — the latest on Sunday when a Coast Guard boat struck a recreational boat in San Diego and killed an 8-year-old boy. On Dec. 5, a Coast Guard boat collided with a commercial catamaran in Charleston Harbor, S.C., and two people were injured. Both incidents took place during or after Christmas parades on the water.
While the NTSB investigates the causes to both accidents, Master Chief Petty Officer of the Coast Guard Skip Bowen offered words of caution in his blog on Monday:
In the meantime I’m asking all of you to speak with your people regarding operational safety. This is a busy time of the year. In some areas the winter weather can create extremely dangerous conditions. ..We must operate safely regardless of the environment we find ourselves in.
Collision at sea: Aftermath
October 28th, 2009 | Foreign navies Life at Sea merchant ships Mishaps Ships | Posted by Phil Ewing
Firefighters worked to put out the fire in the bow of the Japanese destroyer Kurama, which burned after a collision with a South Korean container ship // AP
The photos appearing from Japan this week are enough to unnerve any seafarer — a destroyer’s bow crunched, burned, gone after its collision with a freighter at sea. Six Japanese sailors aboard the destroyer Kurama were hurt in the accident, but no one aboard the South Korean container ship Carina Star was injured. The latest theory is that the Carina Star veered in front of the Kurama to avoid a third ship in the channel, although the final verdict likely won’t be in for weeks.
Even more galling for the Japanese Maritime Self Defense Force, the Kurama was on its way to serve as the flagship for a triennial fleet review this weekend.
Here’s what the ship looked like in happier times:
MC3 Daniel Viramontes/ Navy